Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Of vegetarian Vs Non-vegetarian food

Of late i have been into numerous discussion with Neha about vegetarian food ... even though i am a vegetarian but i don’t buy any single arguments given by vegetarians on why vegetarian food is good and non-veg is bad...Here is my point to point rebuttal of the same:-

1. veg food is healthier than non veg:

Most the articles that site non veg food as bad are generally written by veg fanatics who say that eating non veg increases obesity, heart ailments. They give calorie contents and other scientific facts and compare butter chicken with aaloo gobi or bhindi subzi ..... all i would say is that if this is true then Gujratis who don’t even touch non veg should be the fittest of the Indian community .... why don’t we compare fafdas , veg tikki and pakodas with staked fish? the results will surely be opposite ..... The truth is veg cuisine is as fried, oil and cholesterol full as non veg cuisine and it depends on individual recipe on how healthy or unhealthy the food is .....

I am not even going into nutrition content of individual item as none item is complete or balanced diet in itself. It takes a balanced meal to ensure all nutrients are assimilated.

2. Veg food ensure that animals are not killed and ensure sympathy towards animals.

Let us recall that it an Indian MR J.C.Basu who showed that plants like animals are living, have feelings and they can feel. There is no food in this world that can be achieved without killing or hurting any living being. (If you say fruits i will say eggs are their equivalent).
Many argue that plants have just 2 or 3 senses and animals are more developed/ higher / superior living beings thus eating animals is less sinful.
Is killing a deaf and dumb man less sinful that killing a normal man? Is killing snake ok, given that it can not hear? how can a religion differentiate between living beings based on the senses? this way hizras are less human coz they cant reproduce.......

Well senses are man's definition of being a higher living organism. I argue that plants are the only living species that create their own food from sunlight, water and minerals, that’s why they are superior beings, hence killing them is higher sin.

Plants do not depend on animals for food (well baring 1-2 species) and it is the animal kingdom (including human) that needs to eat other living beings. So let us all animals fulfill this need of ours amongst ourselves and not depend on plants for the same.

3. the environmental veggies say that rearing animals (that are culled for food) is a drain on environment.

Ahem .... what about the fact that if we all turn vegetarians the whole of the earth would not be able to provide requisite amount of fruits, veggies and other grains?
I mean where will you get the land to farm for 8 billion people?
I read some where that grains used for feeding animals reared on farms can feed 800 million people. Well good. But can it feed them for a life time? can those grains provide a balanced diet? what about the fact that the meat thus generated serves need of about another 800 Million people?
In such a regard non veggies are better as they don’t just depend on land but also on water (sea) for food and so the overall pressure on land is less.....

Let us all start eating sea food and fishes... this way land required for agriculture will reduce and 2/3rd of worlds surface can be used for food requirements of human being

4. veg food is less tamsik, does not increases sexual desire, aggression and is pure ....
Ahem ..... My dear religion fanatics .... tamsik, satvik , aggression etc is more dependent on an individual and his character rather than food he/she eats .... if that is the case then most of the vegie wives should be docile and non domineering ... a fact all their husbands can refute :)

Well what about food like onion, garlic, various veggie aphrodisiacs?

5. Non veg brings all with it diseases from poultry etc ....
Duhhh.... what about pesticides on crops? Please someone remind these veg fanatics that rotten veggies and fruits is as harmful as diseased meat!!

My take: Different food groups have different nutritional value and a balanced diet requires all the components. Some of them are abundant in non veg food and some in veg, but this does not means that other food group is deficient in these.
It is simply a matter of individual choice and let us keep it at that ......

8 comments:

Unknown said...

LOL...I love the dig on Gujjus.
At the end of the day it is all about choices and cultural predisposition (being Stuck-Up). I just hope that the veggies dont take you seriously and turn to the oceans- our frail marine ecology has little left due to unabated fishing and global warming.

Anonymous said...

1. veg food is healthier than non veg:

Most the articles that site non veg food as bad are generally written by veg fanatics who say that eating non veg increases obesity, heart ailments. They give calorie contents and other scientific facts and compare butter chicken with aaloo gobi or bhindi subzi ..... all i would say is that if this is true then Gujratis who don’t even touch non veg should be the fittest of the Indian community .... why don’t we compare fafdas , veg tikki and pakodas with staked fish? the results will surely be opposite ..... The truth is veg cuisine is as fried, oil and cholesterol full as non veg cuisine and it depends on individual recipe on how healthy or unhealthy the food is .....

Arguments given have comparison of butter chicken with aloo gobhi / bhindi sabzi because
• Veg food has many such options where food can be healthy + oil free+ cholesterol free. Non veg food doesn’t have many such options. Normally non veg food includes these only.
• Vegetarian food such as fafdas, veg tikki has never been debated as ‘HEALTHY’. Give me the name of one person who said these are healthy.
• THE Arguments which a vegetarian gives only says that vegetarian food is as healthy + nutritious as non veg food. So you can have all your nutrients from vegetarian food as well. This is mainly to counter the argument given by non veg lovers that only non veg food can fulfill all your nutrient reqd and not the vice versa. GET YOUR STATS RIGHT BEFORE YOU WRITE ANYTHING.
• Many Gujratis do TOUCH AND EAT non veg Ethics and cultural values are no longer left. so don’t take all gujjus to be on same boat.
• I thin while compare vegetarian gujratis to ‘fittest people’ you forgot that their favorite food preparation include fried items a lot. So how can they be ‘fittest’? I HAVE ALREADY SAID THAT ALL VEG FOOD (LIKE FRIED ITEMS) IS NOT HEALHTY.
• Non veg is termed as non healthy because of the way it is generally prepared, not for any other reason.

Any more doubts on this point.

Whacko said...

Dear Mr Anonymous let me list down some healthy non veg dishes, a list you are not aware of:

Eggs - scrambled, boiled, omlette, bhurji, any dish ...

fish- staked, grilled, curry .

Chicken - staked, grilled,tandorri, chicken curry prepared at home (yes it uses same amount of oil as any normal subji/ curry

all keemas (shredded meat), chinese prepration of any meat is healthy prepration.
thats my point precisely dude, a veegie can only think of butter chicken as a staple non veg dish

Unknown said...

It is surroundng atmospere in which u grow or study or work , which make up your mind that you are in favour of veg or non veg .

Our Indian culture alway support veg food . change is always good so I prefer to have non veg too as a chnage only .

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